THE planter's GUIDE. 



215 



eiglit-and-twentj feet higli, with a spreading top, the roots 

 must be from twelve to fom^teen feet long — at least on the 

 side placed to windward — and the minute fibres and capil- 

 lary rootlets not fewer than some thousands in number. 

 (See plate III.) As soon as they are carefully extricated, 

 separated, and as it were combed out with the fingers, so 

 as to cover the ground with regularity, and as nearly as 

 may be in the same order in which they were taken up, it 

 is nature that must teach us how to arrange them in their 

 new bed. For this purpose the director disposes the 

 workmen in divisions of three and three, as before. Of 

 these, one workman immediately divides or separates the 

 roots, and prepares to distribute them ; another assists in 

 the laying and distribution ; and the third throws in the 

 mould in such quantities as the two others stand in need of. 



Whoever examines the beauty and regularity with 

 which the boughs and spray of trees, not mechanically 

 prevented, are spread out in the air, and reflects that it is 

 an accurate transcript of the ramification (if I may so 

 speak) of the roots under ground, will admire the remark- 

 able analogy that subsists between both of these organs, 

 and the uncommon beauty and symmetry of both. The 

 former is a matter of daily observation ; the latter falls 

 in the way only of gardeners and arboriculturists, but it 

 is fully known to every one who has seen and can witness 

 the extraordinary effects of the tree-picker at this place. 

 To give, in the replanting, any thing like an accurate imi- 

 tation of such regular but intricate network, requires no 

 ordinary skill and attention in the operators : and yet we 

 are aware, as nature orders nothing in vain, that in pro- 

 portion as we fail or succeed in this object, we shall attain 

 or fall short of the purposes of vegetation, and of giving 

 due vigour to the plant. An ingenious friend of mine, 

 who some years since was struck with the dexterity of the 



